


Can't Help Falling (In Love With You)

by JackalBae (iKain2)



Series: Spanish Dog and Canadian Moose [4]
Category: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six (Video Games)
Genre: Adorable Buck, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Meet the Family, O Canada, Photo Album of Mildly Embarrassing Photos, Wholesome Canadians Suffocate Poor Spaniard In Kindness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-15
Updated: 2018-04-25
Packaged: 2019-04-23 11:42:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14331729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iKain2/pseuds/JackalBae
Summary: After Situation: Outbreak concludes in New Mexico, Buck gets two weeks off to recuperate after that fiasco. He decides to take Jackal to Montréal for a little R&R.





	1. only fools rush in

It’s a cold and wet early morning when they finally step foot out in the public parking lot of Québec City’s Jean Lesage International Airport. Sébastien planted his feet on the sidewalk, put his hands on his hips, and took in the sight of the drenched metropolitan city with a bright smile.

“Ah, Canada! How I’ve missed you!”

Next to him, Ryad tiredly rubbed at eyes. He yawned widely, and then immediately regretted it when his jaw popped. “ _¿Qué hora es?_ ”

“Zero-400 hours.” Sébastien directed his smile towards his barely-awake boyfriend. The Spaniard was wearing the red-and-black checkered coat that he’d long since stolen from Sébastien over his usual tactical sweater and at least another layer of a thermal shirt, but he was visibly shivering from the temperature. “Let’s go find our rental and get out of the cold, _oui_?”

“I can’t wait to sit in a warm car for four hours. I don’t know how you can stand _this_ weather.” Ryad tugged his also stolen beanie further over his ears. His face was already quite red from the chill, and his coat was zipped up as far as it could go.

“When I was in the Scouts, I used to go out and skinny-dip at this temperature.”

Ryad rolled his eyes. “ _Dios mío_.”

After a few minutes of walking, all of which Ryad spent complaining about how cold it was, they eventually found their rental car. The two loaded up their duffels into the trunk and spared no time in getting started on their four hour road trip to Montréal.

The feeling of Sébastien shaking him slightly had Ryad jolting awake, instinctively wiping away the trail of drool that dared to dry to the side of his face thanks to his awkward and cramped sleeping position pressed against the passenger side window. The man sat up straight with a wince that quickly turned into a yawn.

“I’ve already put all of our things inside, just take it easy. There’s no rush.”

Getting out of the car, Ryad blinked as he took in the sight of a rustic cabin covered in a light dusting of fresh snow. Just beyond the cabin was a small lake. The sky above was outcast, but not the dreary gray of impending rain like earlier. It was quiet except for the sounds of their shoes crunching on wet gravel and some birds in the distance.

“I thought we were going to Montréal? Where are we?”

Sébastien shoved his hands into the pockets of his coat, gazing fondly at the cabin. “ _St. Come_. I thought you’d like to see this before we head into the city. It is still an hour away.”

Ryad gave Sébastien a look of amazement. “Did you rent this?”

“ _Non_. It’s all mine. My father gave it to me before he passed some years ago.” With a smile tinged with a little bit of sadness, Sébastien gestured to the cabin. “Want to go inside? I promise it’s warmer than out here, at least.”

Ryad reached out and held Sébastien’s ungloved hand with his own. “I expect nothing less than a grand tour, _mi amor_.”

* * *

Ryad drifted back into wakefulness with the sound of an unfamiliar ringtone accompanied by the buzzing of a phone vibrating on the coffee table. Aware of the snoring man still on top of him, the Spaniard blindly grabbed the phone and answered it with a sleepy, “ _¿Dígame? ¿De parte de quién?_ ”

A moment of confused silence was his answer, before a woman’s French-accented voice came through with a note of surprise, “Is this Sébastien’s cellphone?”

“Sorry, yes, this is Sébastien's cellphone. He is sleeping at the moment. May I ask who this is?” Ryad rubbed at his eyes with his other hand, and then grimaced when he felt the lube that had dried there.

The woman chuckled, although it was very faint through the phone line. “I’m his mother. He said that he and his boyfriend would be coming over for dinner soon, but it’s already four o’clock.”

“Wait, it’s—!” Ryad sat up immediately, sending Sébastien rolling off of him and onto the floor with heavy thump. The man snorted into a state of confused bleariness with hoarse, “Ow.”

“ _Ay, dios mio_. I’m so sorry, we fell asleep.” Muffling the phone against the sofa, Ryad nudged at his lover’s shoulder with his foot. “Sébastien, wake up.”

“Five more minutes, please…”

“Your mother’s on the phone. We may be late for dinner.”

“What—” Just like Ryad had done, Sébastien shot up in surprise, now completely awake. He grabbed the phone from Ryad. “ _Maman! Désolé, je serai bientôt là—_ ”

Sébastien went silent for a long moment, and then he smiled widely. “ _Oui, maman,_ he’s my boyfriend…”

Giving Sébastien some privacy, Ryad stretched out his limbs and then headed over to make use of the reasonably-sized shower he’d seen earlier next to the bedroom.

* * *

“…and that should be it. Do you need me to go over it again?” Sébastien pulled their rental car into the driveway of a modest two-story suburban house in Montréal. The grass of the rather large yard was overgrown and needed weeding. A small pink tricycle was resting against the trunk of an old tree in the center of the yard.

“Your mother loves hunting and used to be schoolteacher. Your younger sister is married to an accountant. Your niece is three years old and loves horses.” On his fingers, Ryad ticked off the relevant information as he recalled it. His smile was confident, but tinged with the tiniest bit of worry. “I may not have done this ‘ _meet the family_ ’ thing since I was much, much younger, but I’m sure all will be well.”

“Just be your normal, charming self.” Sébastien leaned over to press a chaste kiss onto his fretting boyfriend’s cheek.

“Easier said than done.” Letting out a sigh, Ryad wiped his suddenly-sweaty hands on his rarely-worn jeans and got out of the car. The weather in Montréal was cold enough to warrant wearing two layers underneath his usual green jacket, but Sébastien’s ungloved hand was reassuringly warm when he grabbed hold of it when they walked up the small walkway to the front door.

The front door opened without either of them having to ring the doorbell, revealing an older woman dressed warmly in red-checkered flannel. Her blue eyes and genuine smile had a soft and loving quality that had Ryad’s heart hurting for a split second as he faintly wondered if his own mother would have been like her. Probably not.

“My baby boy has finally come back to visit, and finally brought back someone!” Her French-accented English was nearly the same was Sébastien’s. The old woman dragged Sébastien into a tight hug, which he returned just as tightly.

Ryad stood awkwardly to the side, but the old woman had none of that and dragged him into a hug that was surprisingly very strong for someone her age. He did his best to hug back, the height difference making it a little hard.

“You must be Ryad! Welcome to our home!” When Sébastien’s mother finally released him, she gave him an approving look from head to toe before turning to her son. “I thought you said you were feeding him? He’s so skinny, I can feel his ribs!”

“ _Maman_ , please. It’s a bit hard to cook a lot with our… schedules.” Sébastien’s ears went pink as she dragged both of them into the warm house.

“Hmmph! Excuses, excuses. Looks like it will be up to me to put some meat on his bones while you two are home.” After giving them enough time to set aside their shoes and hang up their coats, Sébastien’s mother led them to what looked like a newly-renovated open floor plan kitchen that was quite busy, with all the pots and pans cooking on the stovetop. There was a young woman at the stove that had the same shade of hair color and eye color as Sébastien, but her long hair was wavy and made it past her shoulders.

“It’s alright, Mrs. Côté. Sébastien makes good food, and I always try to eat when he cooks.” Ryad’s gaze wandered around the homey interior of the house. Framed pictures and paintings lined the wallpapered walls. It looked like a proper home, perfect for raising good children.

“Please, call me Béatrice or _Maman_. And, he better make good food, since I’m the one who taught him!” Béatrice shooed off the young woman at the stove with a smile.

“Séb! It’s been so long since the last time I’ve seen you!” The young woman looked to be in her early thirties. She was dressed in a lovely navy sweater and dark leggings. She wrapped her older brother up in a hug, and then turned to Ryad with an appraising look, her hands on her hips. “I can’t believe you brought home a model!”

Sébastien went completely red. “Léa, he’s not a model.”

Amused and no longer nervous, Ryad grinned at the compliment. “You must be Rosaléa. I’m Ryad. It’s nice to meet you. Sébastien’s told me a lot of good things about you.”

“Nice to finally meet you too, Ryad.” Rosaléa waggled a finger at her older brother. “Séb was so tight-lipped about you that I almost thought he made you up. Good to know you’re exactly as he described you.”

“I’m curious, how did he describe me to you?” Ryad aimed a disarming smile at Sébastien.

“A smoking h—”

“And I think that’s enough out of you, _petite soeur_.” Sébastien’s hand planted over her mouth muffled the rest of Rosaléa’s comment. His younger sister rolled her eyes and Ryad smirked, knowing pretty much what she was going to say.

“ _Maman! Maman!_ ” A tiny child pushed past the three of them at the kitchen doorway. Insistent hands tugged at Rosaléa’s pants. The young woman picked up her daughter, who was holding a stuffed horse plush toy, with a chuckle.

Two hazel eyes behind a curtain of wavy hair peered owlishly at Sébastien and Ryad.

“Théa, say hi to your uncle Séb and his boyfriend.” The little girl made a noise and then reached out a chubby little hand to Sébastien.

“You’ve grown so much since I’ve last saw you!” Sébastien tapped her lightly on the nose.

“Hello there!” Ryad smiled when the little girl reached out a curious little hand towards him too. The man took her hand and pressed a playful kiss to her tiny fingers, which had the girl exploding into a fit of giggles.

Béatrice’s voice filtered out through the noise of the cooking. “Food will be ready soon. Rosaléa, is your husband back yet? I thought he left to go get the wine an hour ago.”

The doorbell rang. Rosaléa called over her shoulder as she put down Théa, “Must be the traffic again, but he’s here now. I’ll go get the door!”

As Rosaléa left, tiny fingers tugged at Ryad’s jeans. With a puppyish look to her eyes, Théa babbled something in French and pointed a few times at the living room.

“She wants you to play with her.” Sébastien’s entire expression softened as he looked between Théa and Ryad.

“Ah. You want to play, _niña bonita_?” Ryad bent over and picked up the little girl, hoisting her up high off the ground thanks to his height. The girl laughed and raised her arms out, saying something again in squeaky French.

“She wants you to toss her onto the sofa, but I’m pretty sure Léa would kill both of us if we did that.” Sébastien chuckled as the little girl pouted when she was placed down onto the sofa in the living room, in her little nest of plush horses and various other animals. Ryad sat down next to her, accepting the oversized zebra plush that was shoved into his hands with an amused smile.

“Sébastien, it’s been quite a while!”

Sébastien turned around at his sister’s question and found himself face to face with a skinny, bookish-looking man with glasses. He grinned and accepted the handshake. “Good to see you’re doing well, Henri. Théa’s an absolute sweetheart, and I’m sure Léa’s been tolerable.”

“Ugh, you’re a menace.” Rosaléa lightly punched Sébastien’s arm. “I swear you get worse every year. How in the world did you get Mr. Model to even _talk_ to you?”

“To be perfectly honest, I have no idea why he bothers with me.” Sébastien scratched at the back of his neck as he looked over to Ryad, who was making vague horse noises along with Théa and her toys.

“Wow, honey, you weren’t wrong. He _does_ look like a model. You sure he’s not a model?” Henri’s light comment had Sébastien running a hand over his burning face.

“We work together a lot. It would be very hard to find time to model in-between assignments.”

“Séb.” Rosaléa’s tone turned serious. “Are you sure your boss is okay with you and him? I know not everywhere is going to be as… accepting. Especially in the military. You know _Maman_ worries about you…”

Sébastien spared a moment to think of the oddballs and weird people that Rainbow has collected over the years. “My boss has not said much about it. There are also other couples in my department that have been there longer than I have, and nothing has happened so far. We’re probably okay as long as we remain professional out in the field.”

“Dinner’s ready!” Béatrice’s call from the kitchen was loud and clear. “Kids, set up the table! I’m not having our guests do it for us!”

Both Rosaléa and Sébastien sighed in tandem, and then gave each other a look that had them bursting into chuckles.

“It’s almost like as if you haven’t left, right?” Rosaléa’s eyes were slightly watery.

They said nothing about the absence of their father. His armchair was still there in the living room, covered up with an old quilt. None of them had the will to move it anywhere else, even years later.

“Almost.” Sébastien gave Rosaléa a quick hug as they moved over to the dining room to set up.

* * *

Dinner was a light-hearted affair and pleasant conversation avoiding work-related topics flowed as freely as the wine did. Little Théa had fallen asleep halfway in her highchair and had been moved to the guest bedroom, still clutching at her plush horse.

After the dishes were loaded into the dishwasher, all of them moved to the living room, along with the wine.

“ _Maman_ , please, no. Spare me the embarrassment.” Sébastien groaned when his mother pulled out a heavy photo album from the bookshelf.

“Hey, you got to laugh at me when I went through it with Henri.” Rosaléa, tucked comfortably into her husband’s side, gestured with her nearly-empty wine glass at the photo album. “Now it’s my turn to watch you squirm.”

“Photos of a young Sébastien? I need to see this.” Ryad’s eyebrows raised up when Béatrice forcibly displaced Sébastien from his seat on the sofa next to him. The old woman’s smile only grew larger when she turned to the first page, which featured a baby boy completely covered in smashed cake.

“ _Maman_ , do you have to start with _that_ one?” Sébastien muttered as he leaned against the sofa’s back, his chin resting against the top of Ryad’s head. He had dragged over a chair from the dining room to sit on, seeing as his family had already taken up the rest of the furniture and he absolutely refused to sit on his father’s armchair.   

“Would you prefer I start with the ultrasound? I still have it somewhere.”

With a strangled noise, Sébastien simply slid down in his seat a bit more, pressing his face into the side of Ryad’s neck. His face and ears were flaming red by this point.

Pages flipped by, with Sébastien’s mother narrating the various life events that her son had gone through. There were quite a lot of pictures that showcased Sébastien’s achievements during his early life, and some bumbles as well.

“This was when he joined his high school’s hockey team. Look at how big all of the gear was on him!”

“He looks like he’s drowning, how adorable.”

From her spot on the loveseat, Rosaléa chimed in innocently, “ _Maman_ , I think Séb gave himself a black eye by whacking himself with his first hockey stick, didn’t he?”

“Oh, yes! I remember that. I think there’s a picture of that in here… yes! Here he is, smiling like an idiot. That’s my boy!”

Weakly, Sébastien pointed out, “To be fair, someone tried to take my stick. I was just trying to get it back.”

“Hmm…” Purposefully ignoring her son, Béatrice flipped through a few more pages. “Ah, here’s Séb when he graduated from _L'Université du_ _Québec_ _à_ _Montréal_. Doesn’t he look handsome?”

“Yes, yes he does.” Ryad poorly stifled his chuckles.

“Isn’t that the one picture of you when you tried to grow out a beard before the ceremony? I think all you managed was a moustache that made you look a C-list pornstar.”

Without bothering to look at Rosaléa, Sébastien tossed a small decorative pillow at his younger sister. It nailed her laughing husband in the face instead.

The family-approved ribbing at Sébastien continued for at least an hour. Eventually, Sébastien ran out of pillows to throw at his sister and instead just buried his face into Ryad’s shoulder and hoped that the ground would swallow him up whole where he was.

“Oh, and this one is when Séb got into the RCMP. The uniform is certainly… something.” With a finger, Béatrice traced out the formal uniform of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police that looked cartoonish on a still-young Sébastien. The hat was almost twice the size of his head.

Finally, on the last page of the photo album was a picture of finally-bearded Sébastien in a tailored suit at Rosaléa’s wedding, smiling proudly as he walked his sister down the aisle. “This is the last photo I have before he disappeared on us to go do super-secret military things that we aren’t allowed to know about, until he came back with a boyfriend that we didn’t know about until one week ago.”

“ _Maman_ , I’m sorry, but we’ve been busy with work. It is not easy to call for a few weeks off to visit every year. We were lucky this year, with how many vacation days we saved up.” Sébastien sighed into Ryad’s shoulder. The Spaniard was quiet in contemplation, his smile smaller now but still genuinely happy.

“Which reminds me,” Béatrice pulled out her phone and got up her seat. “Sébastien, sit up. I need a new photo for the album.”

Sébastien sat up straight and shifted forward, his arms still loosely draped around his boyfriend. When his mother readied the phone to take a picture, he leaned over and pressed a kiss to Ryad’s cheek. His low murmur was almost inaudible as he whispered, “Thank you for being here, with me.”

Ryad’s lopsided smile nearly broke his face. He turned around, just enough so the camera wouldn’t be able to capture the slight wetness that had formed in his eyes, and properly kissed his boyfriend in time for the next click of the phone’s camera.


	2. perfect

The scent of freshly brewed coffee filtering into the bedroom had Sébastien stretching out across the rumpled bed, waking up leisurely on the third day of his two week vacation. The morning sunlight coming through the half-drawn curtains was warm against the skin of his back. Blearily, he opened his eyes to check the time.

10 o’clock. He hadn’t slept in for that long since college.

Sébastien rolled over one more time, pressing his face into the other faintly-warm pillow, and then slid out of the bed. It took him a moment to pick up his shirt and shorts from the floor and then headed over to the bathroom to take a shower.

When he got out and padded over to the small kitchen, he found a half-filled pot of coffee on the counter, but both his flannel coat and Ryad were nowhere to be seen. Humming quietly to himself, Sébastien poured himself a mug and then headed over in the direction of the cabin’s front porch.

Sure enough, Ryad was sitting on the porch swing, wearing his coat. He was fully dressed and sipping slowly from his own mug of coffee.

“Good morning.” Sébastien sat down on the porch swing next to his boyfriend, unfazed by the temperature. With the numerous trees surrounding the property and how quiet it was in this area of Canada, it was as if they were both tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the outside world. It was a peaceful, and they’d sorely needed it.

“ _Buenas_.” Ryad raised an eyebrow at how underdressed Sébastien was. “You aren’t cold?”

Casually, Sébastien sipped from his mug. “If you scoot on over closer, I won’t be.”

“Such a charmer.” Ryad chuckled and moved over so he could throw an arm over Sébastien and press a kiss to his lips. They both tasted of coffee and minty toothpaste. “I almost can’t believe that when we first met, you could barely string together more than two words before your face would turn red.”

Sébastien hid his smile behind his coffee mug. “You know _exactly_ why I turned into an idiot whenever you were in the room.”

“ _El amor no respeta la ley, ni obedece a rey_.” Ryad’s low murmur into his ear had Sébastien lowering his mug down to his lap, his cheeks going red.

“I only understood about half of that.”

“Roughly, it means ‘ _love does not respect the law, nor obeys kings_.’ My brother told me that, once, and it has stayed with me.”

Humming thoughtfully, Sébastien let his free hand slide over to rest on Ryad’s thigh. “Well, two can play at this game… _Car, vois-tu, chque jour je t’aime advantage, aujourd’hui plus qu’hier et bien moins que demain_.”

“What does it mean?” Ryad’s sweet smile, wholly for him, had Sébastien warming up from the inside out.

“‘ _For, you see, each day I love you more, today more than yesterday, and much less than tomorrow.’_ ”

“Such beautiful words, all for me.” With his dark eyes half-lidded, Ryad leaned in to press more kisses onto Sébastien, who remembered just in time to set both of their cold mugs of coffee onto the porch floor to avoid spilling what was left all over themselves.

The shrill ringing of Sébastien’s cellphone in the pocket of the coat had Ryad breaking the kiss, sighing, and then slouching over to press his forehead onto his boyfriend’s shoulder. He fished out the cellphone from the pocket and handed it to Sébastien.

“Ah, it’s Léa. I see her horrible timing hasn’t changed at all.” Sébastien answered the call with a curt, “ _Oui,_ Léa?”

Léa’s chattering over the phone line was too indistinct for Ryad to hear, so instead he casually slid his hand underneath Sébastien’s shorts. The man’s eyes were glued to where Ryad’s hand had sneaked over to.

“Sure, yes, we can be over soon. No problem. I need to go. No, Léa, it’s – I’m hanging up now.” He ended the call and carefully dropped the cellphone onto the porch floor. He gave Ryad a look of exasperation that quickly disappeared when the other man slid off the porch swing and onto his knees.

* * *

“I know that you two are on vacation and everything, but thank you so much for helping me out. Both Henri and I should be back later tonight, and there should be everything you need in the fridge for lunch and dinner.” Rosaléa, her hair pinned up messily and clearly rushing to get herself ready before heading out, gave Sébastien and Ryad quick hugs as she grabbed her purse.

Sébastien waved her off with a smile. “We get to spend time with Théa, so it’s not a bother. We’ll take good care of her.”

Rosaléa gave her daughter a tight hug when she ran over, dressed in cute leggings and a long-sleeved shirt that had a pattern of rainbow-colored horses. “Be on your best behavior for your uncles, _mon petite_! _Maman_ has to go back to work because some people don’t know how to do their jobs!”

Before she was put back down onto her feet, Théa pressed a big kiss to her mother’s cheek, grinning widely as she babbled in French.

Sébastien, Ryad, and Théa waved off Rosaléa as she got into her car and pulled out of the driveway. When she was gone, Théa tugged at Ryad’s pants, looking up at him with big hopeful eyes as she chirped, “ _J’ai faim!_ ”

“She’s hungry.” Sébastien checked his watch. “It’s lunch time anyways, let’s go see if we can make something we can all agree to eat.”

“Alright. What do you feel like eating, _niña bonita_?” Ryad picked up the little girl, balancing her in his arms as they walked back into Rosaléa and Henri’s home. Their mother, Béatrice, was out on a doctor’s appointment, and would not be back for several hours, so she could not babysit Théa until much later. Simply put, it was just the three of them for the rest of the day.

After a pause, in which she tilted her head adorably because she was still too young to also understand more English or Spanish, Théa continued chirping, “ _J’ai faim!_ ”

Standing in front of the refrigerator, Sébastien scratched at his beard. “What… what is all of this?”

“What?” Ryad set down Théa, who ran off into the living room.

One section of the refrigerator, ostensibly for Théa’s nutritional needs, was filled with organic versions of traditional toddler-appropriate food. The rest of the refrigerator was stuffed full of vegetables, with only a single package of Canadian bacon stuck in the back corner. Sébastien picked up one of the packages, an easy-prep peas, corn, and meat-and-cheese stuffed buns, and inspected it. “What happened to normal food? What is all of this organic labeling?”

“It is supposed to be better? It looks expensive.” Ryad took the package from Sébastien and read the nutritional labelling. The food looked like any other non-organic food item that needed cooking.

Théa came running back into the kitchen, clutching two stuffed horses. She tugged insistently at the nearest adult’s pants, which was Sébastien this time. The man picked up her up with a smile. “ _Qu’est-ce que tu veux manger?_ ”

“Poutine!” Her grin was wide, showing off her baby teeth that had just finished growing in.

Poutine sounded like a much better alternative to… whatever his sister was feeding her daughter and husband on a daily basis. One day of eating Proper Canadian Food wouldn’t hurt, would it?

Ryad gave the contents of the fridge another incredulous look. He put the package of toddler food back into the fridge and turned to Sébastien. “I don’t think we can make poutine with all of these not-potato vegetables…”

“Right.” Sébastien gave both Théa and Ryad a serious look. “Looks like we’re going grocery shopping.”

Ryad shut the refrigerator door. “I’ll go get the car seat.”

* * *

The downtown Montréal’s Trader Joe’s market that they’d went to was much more lavish and spacious than Ryad had initially imagined. It was certainly nothing like the ones he’d frequented in Spain before he’d joined GEO and thus never had to ever go grocery shopping ever again… until now. He did not know that there needed to be an entire aisle dedicated to just breakfast cereals and oatmeal for adults, all of which looked very boring and bland.

Of course, Sébastien had been distracted by such mundane food items, and was some meters away in front of them, perusing two different boxes of cereal. Ryad had hung back a little, humoring Théa as she babbled away in French. 

Théa’s little hands slapping at his own, from where she was seated in the child seat on the shopping cart, grabbed his attention. He smiled at her and grabbed the horse plush that was crammed into the child seat next to her. “ _El caballo._ ”

She pointed at the toy and stubbornly said, “ _Le cheval._ ”

Ryad let her wrest the toy horse from him and instead pointed to a box of cereal marketed towards young women who needed a lot of fiber but also somehow wanted to eat zero calories for breakfast. “This doesn’t look tasty, right Théa? You need to eat tasty breakfast things to grow up big and strong, _¿vale?_ Now, breakfast churros? _Those_ are really tasty.”

Théa shoved the horse at his face, chirping brightly with unintelligible words, which eventually ended with a good attempt at saying the word ‘churros.’

“ _Me gustan los churros._ ” Ryad trilled the R’s, watching as Théa’s lit up in curiousity.

Théa’s face scrunched up as she tried to parrot the trill. She ended up spitting at him, and then laughed.

“Practice makes perfect, _mija_.” Ryad was about to keep prompting Théa to keep trying to roll her R’s when a woman’s voice coming from behind interrupted them.

“Hi there!”

Ryad turned around, coming face to face with a woman who looked to be at least in her early thirties. She was blonde, blue-eyed, and pushing a shopping cart filled with organic-labeled food. She brushed some hair out of her face, and Ryad noticed she didn’t have a ring on her finger and that the topmost button on her shirt was unbuttoned.

Ryad smiled politely. “Hello.”

“She’s adorable! How old is she?” Her eyes quickly darted to his hands and then back to his face. Ryad held back the urge to sigh in response to the hungry look in her eyes; it seemed that trouble found him no matter where he went, and Montréal was no exception.

“She’s three. Say hello, _mija_.” Théa hid her face behind her plush horse and grabbed Ryad’s fingers with her own. Ryad continued smiling politely. “She’s shy around strangers.”

“Well, I’m Anette.” The woman held out a manicured hand. “If we introduce ourselves, we won’t be strangers anymore, right?”

“Ryad. Pleased to meet you.” He had to tug his hand out of the woman’s grip when she was too focused on lips to let go.

“Hey babe, we can go pick out some cheese now.” By the grace of God, Sébastien picked the right time to interrupt. He was holding a box of Honey Nut Chex cereal, which he tossed into the shopping cart.

The woman looked taken aback by the comment, and then squinted at Sébastien. Her eyes widened. “Is that you, Sébastien? Sébastien Côté?”

“Yes?” The man looked at her for a moment before his eyebrows raised. “Anette Frécault?”

The woman smiled widely. “I haven’t seen you since we graduated from _université_! How have you been?”

Sébastien glanced at Ryad before giving Anette a big smile. “Well enough. What about you? Did you get married to Jérômé?”

“Ah, no. We broke up before the wedding. Last I heard, he’d moved to France with some other woman that he had a child with. I’m on my own for the moment.” Anette’s smile was sad for a brief moment before she recovered admirably. She gestured to both men. “And you? Married with a kid?”

“Well. We…” Sébastien floundered for a moment, his ears turning pink when he realized what the two of them must have looked like with Théa. “He’s my boyfriend. We’re babysitting my niece for the day.”

“I just thought otherwise.” Anette chuckled awkwardly. “Sorry for the, uh…”

“It’s no problem.” Ryad relaxed and gave the woman a much more genuine smile.

“So, what have you been up to after _université_ , Sébastien?” Anette moved her shopping cart over to the side so a frazzled-looking middle-aged woman with three rambunctious children could move through the aisle.

“I joined the military.” Sébastien grabbed Théa’s stuffed toy before it could fall out of the shopping cart, handing it back to the little girl before she started crying. “We’re between tours at the moment, so it’s like a little vacation.”

“Oh, that’s nice. Is that how you two met?”

“Yes.”

Before Sébastien could say anything further, Théa’s squeaky shout interrupted all of them. “Poutine!”

“Right, right, you little princess.” Sébastien gave Anette an apologetic look. “Looks like we’re going to have to cut this a bit short since she’s going to be even crankier if we don’t get lunch ready soon.”

“Ah, that’s okay. It’s nice seeing you again after so long, Sébastien. Perhaps we all can connect over lunch on another day, if you two aren’t busy?” Anette took the excuse in stride.

“Maybe. Are you still using your old phone number?”

“Yes. You still have it?”

“Yeah. I might call if we have time while we’re here.” Sébastien gave the woman a companionate hug before wishing her well and dragging both Ryad and Théa away and towards the cheese section.

Once out of view of the woman, Ryad sighed in relief. Sébastien gave him a soft look and a pat on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, I won’t let that happen again.”

Ryad gave him an odd look, but then he was distracted by Théa’s surprised babbling at the veritable wall of cheeses. Sébastien hung back a few steps, his right hand briefly going into the pocket of his coat. The small, precious box waiting there calmed the nervous fluttering in his stomach that had resurfaced because of Anette’s comment.

* * *

“You don’t have to keep an old lady like me company, hmm? Go and have fun with Séb and Théa. I can do the cooking by myself.” Béatrice gave Ryad a gentle smile as the man quickly chopped carrots and potatoes into perfectly square shapes. She said nothing about the strange way he held the knife, as if he was always ready to flip it in order to stab something.

“If it’s okay, I would like to learn how to cook like you.” Ryad met her look evenly with his own smile. “I’m not very good at it, but want to be able to cook something that Sébastien loves to eat.”

Béatrice chuckled and turned her attention back to the _tourtière_ crust she was rolling out on the counter. “I’ll tell you a little secret about my _tourtières_. I haven’t told this to either of my children, but I think you will find some use out of it.”

Ryad looked up at her in surprise. “Really?”

“The secret is apple cider vinegar. A dash of that makes the filling taste better. But, to make any good homemade food, make it with love. Quite simple, really.”

“Of course.” Ryad smiled and returned to chopping the vegetables. The sounds of Théa shrieking happily while playing with Sébastien in the background was comforting.

After a moment of comfortable silence, Béatrice continued, much more quietly than earlier. “When I was in the hospital having Léa, my husband and Séb were stuck here because of a snowstorm.”

Ryad chopped slowly, turning his head to give the older woman his attention.

“When the storm ended, I found out that my husband had tried to cook something other than steak over a grill. He’d almost burned the house down to make chicken soup. Séb, apparently to spare me the horror of my husband’s attempt at cooking, ate all of it the hour before I came home and baked a _cod au gratin_ just for me. He never tried to cook before that and had only watched me make it perhaps once, but it was the best thing I ate in my life. I immediately put him to work, cooking dinners with me when he had time.” Béatrice chuckled at the memory.

Ryad briefly paused in cutting the last of the vegetables. “Months ago, when I was sick, he made a _tourtière_ like this one. It was so delicious that it put me to sleep like a baby.”

Béatrice laughed. “You’ll do just fine, Ryad.”

* * *

After the simple but filling dinner, Ryad was in charge of putting Théa to sleep in the guest room that was outfitted for her use. Sébastien had gone to clean up the dishes and went into the kitchen; his mother gave both of them a look of subtle amusement but then followed her son, presumably to help.

“ _Mija_ , it’s time to go to sleep. Your _Maman_ will be back soon to take you home.” Ryad tucked the little girl into the child-sized bed that was just for her.

Théa hugged her plush horses closer to her and chirped out a single word in English. “Lull-bye!”

“Oh, you want a lullaby, hm?” Taking a seat on the hand-carved wooden chair next to the bed, Ryad brushed aside some stray strands of hair out of Théa’s face. “I only know Spanish ones, _niña bonita_.”

“Lull-bye!” Théa stared insistently at him, half-asleep already but clearly fighting it.

Ryad sighed, and hummed for a moment. Then, turned to her and very softly started singing to her.

_Recuérdame, si en tu mente vivo estoy_   
_Recuérdame, mis sueños yo te doy_   
_Te llevo en mi corazon y te acompañaré_   
_Unidos en nuestra canción, contigo ahi estaré_

Théa rolled over to her side, her eyes nearly closed. Her tiny fingers reached out to hold onto his. Ryad smiled at the sight and continued.  
  
_Recuérdame, si sola crees estar_  
 _Recuérdame, y mi cantar te irá a abrazar_  
 _Aun en la distancia nunca vayas a olvidar_  
 _Que yo contigo siempre voy, recuérdame_

At the last verse, her breathing was slow and steady. Ryad tugged the blankets up higher so she would be covered more and smoothed down her hair.

* * *

“ _Maman_ , I have to talk to you about something important.” When Ryad and Théa disappeared into the guest room, Sébastien spared no time in getting his mother’s attention while they were rinsing the dishes and putting them into the dishwasher.

Béatrice took one look at the serious expression on her son’s face and beat him to the point. “I’m sure the answer will be yes when you ask. I approve, and I’m sure your father would have, too.”

Sébastien’s mouth opened, and then closed. He turned his gaze to the soapy water in the sink.

“How long have you been planning to ask him?” Béatrice placed a rinsed plate into the dishwasher.

“Three months.”

Béatrice clicked her tongue. “I’ve never known you to wait so long to do anything, _mon cher_.”

“We… I had been delayed by an assignment in New Mexico. I thought I would ask before I left, but I felt that it was too early and…” Sébastien’s shoulders slumped. “I thought I was going to _die_ in New Mexico. It was… I do not know how to describe it, what happened there… but I was very lucky to come back in one piece.”

“Oh, _mon cher_.” Béatrice gave her son a soft look and pulled him into a hug, lightly soapy hands and all. Sébastien hugged back tightly, feeling much younger than his actual age.

“I’m very grateful to come home, _Maman_. I wish I could do it more…”

“Well, this home will always be here. For both you and Léa, for Henri, Théa, _and_ for Ryad. Do not forget that. We are a family. You two will always be welcomed.” Béatrice gave her son one more tight squeeze before letting go, running a hand through Sébastien’s hair.

“ _Merci, Maman_.” Sébastien smiled tightly, his eyes slightly watery, but he turned back to the dishes.

Béatrice hummed thoughtfully as she placed the final plate into the dishwasher and wiped her hands on the dishrag. “I just hope you two don’t delay any further. I still want more grandchildren, you know.”

“ _Maman…_ ” Sébastien took one look at the determined expression on his mother’s face and chuckled nervously.

“Théa needs a playmate, and although I’m pretty sure Léa and Henri will have another child, it would still be nice for her to have some cousins…”

“ _Maman,_ please.” Sébastien wiped his hands dry. “I haven’t even asked him to marry me yet.”

“Well then, hurry up! Make sure I’m at the top of the RVSP list.” Béatrice gave her son a fond look and shooed him out of the kitchen.

* * *

Ryad looked up at the door to the guest room when it opened up quietly. Sébastien appeared at the doorway.

“Ready to go?” The man’s voice was indescribably soft as he leaned against the doorframe.

“Sure.” Ryad got up, tucked Théa’s blankets up a little more securely around her, and then went over to press a gentle and chaste kiss onto Sébastien when he got close enough. “Let’s go _home_.”


	3. with you between my arms

On the fifth day of their vacation in Montréal, Ryad woke up to the feeling of the bed creaking from the shifting of weight. Soft kisses pressed against his shoulder and up his neck. He sighed and cracked open his eyes after being enticed by a few languid kisses against his cheek and lips.

It was still quite dark in the room, so it must not even be sunrise yet. Ryad closed his eyes again, groaned softly, and then blindly reached out for Sébastien. The man was just hovering over him, and fully dressed. “ _¿Qué haces, mi amor?_ ”

“Wake up, or we’ll get stuck in traffic.” Sébastien’s low whisper against the shell of his ear almost had Ryad falling back asleep. “Please? You promised.”

“Time?” Ryad wrapped his arms around the other man and dragged him down, hugging him like a pillow. His eyes stayed stubbornly closed.

“Four.” Sébastien’s hands slid up his boyfriend’s chest and then he slid out of Ryad’s hold. He grabbed a corner of the blanket and dragged it off. “Come on, up and at ‘em.”

Ryad muttered something under his breath in Spanish, and then rolled over onto his front. He stretched out his arms and legs, humming appreciatively into his pillow when he felt a hand trail down his bare back.

After a few moments, the hand squeezed once and then disappeared. “Go get dressed and I’ll get you some coffee, okay?”

“Mmhm.”

Ryad lifted his head off his pillow and watched Sébastien leave the bedroom. When the man was gone, he slid off the bed and stumbled off to the bathroom, yawning hard enough that he had to hold onto the doorframe. The scent of hot coffee that filtered into the bathroom was just enough to get him to start moving to brush his teeth and shave.

* * *

Two hours later, Ryad looked up at the massive forested mountain with trepidation. Although heights weren’t something he was afraid of, he was much more comfortable underwater than he was in the mountains. What if there were bears wandering around, waiting for their next meal?

“I used to hike here all the time in the Scouts. There are a lot of other trails here, but we’ll be taking the more scenic route – it’s two kilometers long, with a few hills here and there, but it is very beautiful along the way. You’ll love it.” Sébastien, practically vibrating with excitement, grabbed hold of Ryad’s hand and led the way onto one of the trailheads of the _Parc National du Mont Tremblant_.

At their pace, they quickly passed by bright-eyed parents dragging sleepy kids along, old ladies with hiking sticks, and over-dressed hiking novices that chugged water during the first half kilometer. Sébastien greeted everyone they passed, getting nods or smiles in return.

This early in the morning, the national park was still very quiet except for the sounds of hikers. The skies were overcast, but not dark – the sun would come out within the hour, likely. Sébastien was dressed in a hooded sweater with cargo pants, while Ryad had borrowed his boyfriend’s coat again and was wearing tactical pants and boots.

At the 0.5 kilometer mark, there was a small clearing that showed a scenic view of the park’s entrance. A few hikers milled about here, taking pictures.

After they took a moment to rest, sharing sips from a bottle of water, they continued on. The next section of the trail was the start of a hill.

“See that?” When his gaze caught onto something, Sébastien pointed upwards, at one of the trees.

“Oh?” Ryad squinted. There was a snowy owl just barely hidden by the leaves. It was sleeping. “It’s an owl.”

“The snowy owl is Québec’s national bird.” Sébastien smiled at the quiet creature snoozing away. “It’s not often you see one this close to the trail.”

“Best let it sleep then.” Ryad re-laced their fingers together, and then they continued on.

The hill wasn’t too steep, but it did give both of them a warmup when they finally got over it. The marker for the first kilometer was at the top, which was another scenic view, this time overlooking a valley of trees that ended right where the city started.

“What a view.” Ryad leaned against the railing of the outlook area. “The city looks so still from here.”

Next to him, Sébastien took a sip of water. He pointed over into the distance, to the left. “Our cabin’s in that direction, and further south is my mother’s house.”

Ryad turned to Sébastien, smiling softly. “A Scout can always find his way home, hmm?”

“Well, that, and knot-tying. I was the best in my troop.” Sébastien bumped his shoulder against the other man’s, grinning.

Ryad bit at his bottom lip. “Want to show me those knot-tying skills when we get home?”

“Sure. I know at least six that you might not be able to get yourself out of.” Sébastien coughed, hoping he didn’t turn too red. He took another sip of the water before passing the bottle to Ryad.

After taking a picture of themselves against the backdrop of the valley, they continued onwards. The trail continued uphill, although the winding route was at a gentle slope that allowed for a leisurely pace. To their left were an expanse of trees, while to their right was just a railing that did little to block against the breath-taking view of national park’s lower areas, which included several small picnic areas and a winding river cutting through the trees.

At the 1.5 kilometer mark, they sat down on the stone bench and shared a granola bar. Since it was still quite early in the morning, the clearing was empty save for them. The sun was just starting to break out from behind the clouds, shining weak sunlight through the tree canopy above. After a few minutes of soaking in the sun in a comfortable silence, they returned to the trail.

Just before they reached the second kilometer mark, which signaled the end of the trail and the start of the loop back down to the entrance, Sébastien stopped.

“There’s a little side path here that leads to a small outlook. All Scouts know about this one, as it’s not marked on the map.” Sébastien pointed at a well-trodden path that wasn’t roped off. “I want to show you it.”

Ryad raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure it doesn’t lead off a cliff by now?”

“It shouldn’t. Come on.” Sébastien pushed aside some low foliage. A stone marker pointed the way forward. He gesture for Ryad to go through first.

The path led downwards and sharply turned to the left before revealing a small clearing that had a small bench. The cliff-side was roped off.

“ _Dios mio._ ” Ryad’s hitched breath was the reaction Sébastien was hoping for.

The cliff’s side was covered in wildflowers that were in full bloom and trailed down to cover the little valley below them in shades of white, pink, and violet. Trees blocked them on either side, giving this little outlook privacy and shade.

“If you lean over a little bit and look over there,” Sébastien gestured to the left, carefully moving behind Ryad. “You can see an old tree that is covered in these flowers.”

“This is beautiful, incredible… Séb—” Ryad turned around, smiling, but then his eyes widened in surprise.

Sébastien was down on one knee, holding a small velvet box in his hands. The polished titanium band gleamed in the sunlight. His smile was nervous, but his eyes were still so tender and full of love. “Marry me… please?”

“Y-yes, yes! Of course!” Ryad pulled Sébastien to his feet, careful of the ring box. With his hands cupping those bearded cheeks he adored so much, Ryad pulled Sébastien in for a deep, passionate kiss that bent him backwards and almost sent both of them falling to the ground.

Sébastien pulled back for air, grinning uncontrollably as he took in the sight of his now-fiancé. Ryad was smiling freely, with tears in his eyes, as he accepted the ring onto his finger. A cool breeze shook the trees above them, sending stray leaves and pastel-hued flower petals floating down onto them.

Their next kisses, tender and soft, mingled with Ryad’s choked whispers of “ _Mi amor, te amo, te amo, te amo._ ”

“I’m the luckiest man in the world. I have never felt more loved in my life.” Sébastien felt joyous tears burning at the back of his eyes. He could only hope that Ryad felt just as much love as he did right now, if not more; he deserved every bit of it that he could give through his kisses and touches and words.

With Ryad pressed so closely against him, Sébastien could feel him shaking minutely as he pressed his lips reverently to his. He held him tighter as another breeze sent more flower petals drifting around them.   


End file.
